While he thus spake there came in King Servius, having been fetched by a messenger in hot haste, and cried with a loud voice from the porch of the senate-house, "What doest thou here, Tarquin? How darest thou, while I am yet alive, to call the Senators together and to sit upon my throne?"
To this Tarquin made answer, "This throne is the throne of the King my father, of which I, being the son of a king, am worthier than thou that art the son of a slave. Surely now thou hast long enough triumphed over them that are by right thy masters."
After this there was a great shouting and tumult, some favouring Servius and some Tarquin; and the people ran together into the senate-house; and it was manifest that he that should prevail in that conflict would possess the kingdom. Then Tarquin, thinking that having ventured so much he must dare all things, laid hands on King Servius and cast him down the steps of the senate-house into the market-place. Then they that accompanied the King, that, is to say his ministers and guards, were stricken with fear and fled, and Servius himself, seeking to return to the palace, and having now reached the end of the street of Cyprus, was overtaken by them that Tarquin had sent to pursue him, and there slain. And men say that this was done at the bidding of Tullia; and indeed it agrees with the other wickedness of this woman. That she rode in her carriage into the market-place, and, fearing not to come into the assembly of men, called forth her husband from the senate-house, and before all others saluted him as King—all this is known for certain. And when he bade her depart to her home, and she had come to the top of the street of Cyprus, and would turn aside to the Esquiline Hill, he that drave the horses drew back the rein and tarried, showing to his mistress the body of Servius where it lay in the street Then did she a wicked deed, whereof there remains a memorial to this day, in that men call the street the Wicked Street, for she drave her carriage over the body of her father, and so went on to her house, having the blood of her father upon her wheels, aye, and upon her own garments. And as the reign of King Tarquin began with blood, even so also did it end.
CHAPTER V. ~~ THE STORY OF BRUTUS.
Lucius Tarquin, having thus seized the kingdom (for he had not the consent either of the Senators or of the Commons to his deed), bare himself very haughtily, so that men called him Tarquin the Proud. First, lest some other, taking example by him, should deal with him as he had dealt with Tullius, he had about him a company of armed men for guards. And because he knew that none loved him, he would have them fear him. To this end he caused men to be accused before him. And when they were so accused, he judged them by himself, none sitting with him to see that right was done. Some he slew unjustly, and some he banished, and some he spoiled of their goods. And when the number of the Senators was greatly diminished by these means (for he laid his plots mostly against the Senators, as being rich men and the chief of the State), he would not choose any into their place, thinking that the people would lightly esteem them if there were but a few of them. Nor did he call them together to ask their counsel, but ruled according to his own pleasure, making peace and war, and binding treaties or unbinding, with none to gainsay him.
Nevertheless, for a while he increased greatly in power and glory. He made alliance with Octavius Mamilius, prince of Tusculum, giving him his daughter in marriage; nor was there any man greater than Mamilius in all the cities of the Latins; and Suessa Pometia, that was a city of the Volsci, he took by force, and finding that the spoil was very rich (for there were in it forty talents of gold and silver), he built with the money a temple to Jupiter on the Capitol, very great and splendid, and worthy not only of his present kingdom but also of that great Empire that should be thereafter. Also he took the city of Gabii by fraud, as shall now be told.
The manner of his fraud was this. He made as if he had changed his purpose about the city, leading away his army from before it, and busying himself with laying the foundations of the Temple of Jupiter and other like things. But while he did this, Sextus, that was the youngest of his three sons, fled to Gabii, as if he were a deserter from the army of his father, and complained grievously to the men of the city of the cruelty which the King had used towards him. "Surely now," he said, "my father has turned away his fury from others upon them that are of his own household; and that same solitude which he has made in the Senate he would have also in his own home, being so jealous of his kingdom that he will not have any near him that shall inherit it. As for myself I barely escaped with my life from them that would have slain me by his command; nor do I count myself safe except among such as are enemies to the King. As for you, think not that he has given up his purpose concerning you. He only waits an occasion when he may take you unawares." The men of Gabii, when they heard these words, received the young man kindly and bade him be of good cheer, for that they would defend him from his father. They said also that they counted themselves fortunate to gain such help, knowing him to be brave and skilful in war, and that doubtless, with his aid, they should soon carry the war from their own city even to the walls of Rome. After this, when the young man had gone, not once only but many times, with the young men of Gabii, making war against the Romans and plundering their country, and had always fared well, putting the enemy to flight and' bringing back much spoil (and, indeed, things were so ordered by the King that it should be so), the people of Gabii were persuaded that he was dealing honestly with them, and chose him to be the captain of their host. After this, when he found that he could now do all things at his pleasure in Gabii, he sent a messenger to the King his father, desiring to know what he would have him do. To this messenger the King, doubting whether the man was faithful, gave no answer by word of mouth, but rose up from his place and walked in the garden that was by the palace, having the look of one that took deep counsel with himself. And as he walked he smote off the heads of the tallest poppies that were in the garden with a staff that he had in his hand, but spake never a word. At the last, the messenger being wearied out with the asking of a question to no purpose, departed, thinking that he had now fulfilled his errand. And when he came to Gabii he told to Sextus what he had seen; "only," he said, "the King your father, whether for anger or for haughtiness, spake not one word." But Sextus knew right well what his father would have him do. For he set himself to overthrow the chief men of the city. Some he accused to the people; and against some he took occasion of offence given to the Commons. Some were put to death publicly, and others, to whose charge nothing could be laid, were slain by secret violence. Others again were suffered to go of their own accord into banishment; and the goods of all, whether they were slain or banished, were divided amongst the Commons; nor did these, being blinded by the desire of gain, perceive what damage the State suffered, till Gabii, having lost all its rulers and counsellors, fell into the hands of the Romans without so much as a battle. By such means did King Tarquin increase his power.